Altered documents lead to cancelled licence for mortgage adviser

The FMA licence of Saanvi 2022 trading as Saaga Mortgages has been cancelled for submitting altered supporting documents to mortgage lenders.

Aggregator KAN raised red flags to the regulator and the FMA’s investigation found this happened in lending applications Saanvi submitted for six clients.

It was unable to provide originating emails or source records for the lending applications.

Mortgage advice was provided by Gajay Singh, Saanvi’s sole director and only adviser.

Head of the FMA’s perimeter and response team Helena Lewis says the issues uncovered at Saanvi reflect serious failures of trust, governance, and professional standards.

“We also found Saanvi’s clients were not informed of a referral arrangement which included payments to a third party who was actively involved in its advice process.

“The third party appeared to be actively involved in Saanvi’s advice process rather than acting purely as a source of referrals. Saanvi had misled KAN about the identity of this individual.”

Saanvi also disclosed that clients’ personal information may have been accessible to its administrative assistant, who had no formal employment or contractual relationship with Saanvi.

“Mortgage advice involves some of the most important financial decisions consumers will make, and poor conduct in this area can have long lasting consequences for households,” Lewis says.

“The cancellation of Saanvi’s licence is critical to ensuring we protect consumers and the integrity of the market.

“It is important for financial advice providers to act ethically to maintain trust and uphold the integrity of the sector, which Saanvi failed to do.

She says Saanvi co-operated with the FMA throughout its investigation, and Singh expressed remorse for the conduct identified.

Comments from our readers

On 1 April 2026 at 9:53 am Amused said:

When it comes to the types of individuals working in this industry who are getting caught after displaying a lack of honesty or integrity there is a distinct pattern emerging now if other advisers get my gist.

On 2 April 2026 at 9:09 am valkyrie6 said:

Yeah, it’s interesting how it’s always the same type of advisers ruining the integrity of our industry. Head groups need to start paying more attention to this fact if they aren’t already as they are ones hiring and bringing new advisers into the industry via a bums on sets approach as groups need to make money to exist.

On 2 April 2026 at 11:09 am Paul Flood said:

@Amused - I think I know what you mean, definitely a pattern emerging about the type of adviser involved in serious contraventions.

Without fail, they have been remunerated through commission. Same type that has been causing trouble all along.

On 3 April 2026 at 12:30 pm Amused said:

@Paul Flood - yes unfortunately the same thing is happening across the Tasman with the types of advisers been caught there in serious misconduct cases. I had someone try and explain to me that it's a cultural thing with many of these individuals coming from overseas countries where ethics and honesty are perhaps not held in the same regard as they are here. This issue is not only affecting the financial services industry but many others across New Zealand. You only have to look at the number of cases appearing now in the news. The FMA talks about the importance of maintaining trust and upholding the integrity of the sector. Well as valkyrie correctly states in her comment head groups need to start waking up to the above and so do the providers.

On 4 April 2026 at 9:19 pm Paul Flood said:

@Amused - sorry, I didn't make my point clearly enough. The common theme that I am seeing is not a common culture, or country of origin, or area of advice (mortgages, insurance, kiwisaver...)

On 7 April 2026 at 10:48 am The Terrace said:

We aren't told who or what the third party is in this case. Would be interesting to know.
It's also interesting to read that the tip off came from the aggregator & not from a lender - especially since there have been altered documents.

On 7 April 2026 at 1:05 pm Amused said:

@ Paul Flood - Try googling "Home detention for man in $3m mortgage fraud case" - January 2026

Another one!

Yes there is a distinct pattern emerging with the types of advisers getting caught after displaying a lack of honesty or integrity with many of these individuals coming from overseas countries where ethics and honesty are perhaps not held in the same regard as they are here. Why are we been sensitive about this fact?

Altered documents lead to cancelled licence for mortgage adviser

KAN's tipoff to the Financial Markets Authority leads to mortgage adviser having his FAP licence cancelled.

Wednesday, April 1st 2026, 8:10AM 7 Comments

Comments from our readers

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